February 2009 Archives

At Josie's allergist appointment last year, he mentioned that we should watch for any signs of asthma, that he predicted she would probably get it at some point. Along with her allergies and eczema, it's all related to the immune system. Apparently, eczema affects kids most when they're young. Then around the age of 5 the eczema fades and asthma symptoms start. And as for the allergies? Well, keeping her away from the things she's allergic to is our best chance of her hopefully outgrowing them as she gets older... except for the nut allergy. He said it's only a small percentage of children that actually do get over this. Our best bet is to keep her away from nuts so that her reaction to them stays less serious (right now she only gets red welts wherever she touches it, as opposed to any kind of anaphylactic reaction.)

Well, his predictions were right. Josie always wakes up coughing a little at night, but we just figured it was related to drainage from her seasonal allergies. The last month or so, however, have made us aware of a few more things, specifically her coughing fits after she's been running, and her wheezing. It might seem obvious to you, but we just never put two and two together. She has always been a little stuffed up, so we always attributed these things to her having a cold or her allergies affecting her (I mean, she IS allergic to cats and dogs, both of which we have in the house.) What made us really sit up and notice, though, was the wheezing. We have noticed how loud she breathes and how you can hear the wheezing in her chest. You'll just be sitting next to her on the couch watching a TV show, and you'll hear it. We went to her annual appointment with the allergist last week and I mentioned all of this to him. He confirmed that it was asthma.

So now Josie is on an inhaler. We have one that we give her morning and night (preventative) and one that I carry in my purse for times when she can't seem to stop coughing, or when we hear the wheezing during the day. Luckily, as with most of her allergies, it isn't life-threatening. While this is still a concern for us, it could be much MUCH worse.

The nurse showed Josie how to use the inhaler. We also have a "spacer" or basically a lightly-sealed tube in which we can spray the inhaler on one end and then Josie can put the other end (like a mask) over her mouth and just breathe in when she's ready -- as opposed to the sudden direct spray in the mouth from the inhaler alone. She has been very brave about it. We call it her "air medicine." It's only been a couple of days, but she's doing well. I think she's starting to realize that it helps. The first day she did the inhaler alone. The next day she didn't want to do it at all and we had to convince her to try the spacer with it. Now she is doing much better, though it's hard to tell just how much she's getting. When you ask her to breathe in, she sometimes blows out. Still, any little bit can help.

Luckily, he said he suspected that it was seasonal asthma, common in kids with her allergies and such. She would have the troubles from about September through April, and then wouldn't need anything during the warm summer months. We'll be seeing him again in April to determine if this might be the case.

**Note: my mother had asthma as a kid but outgrew it when she reached puberty. We're hoping that's the case with Josie as well.

So, her eczema is much better. We've even been able to start using Eucerin again (a heavier cream than what we were using) which had irritated her skin before. The doctor said he figures she won't have as much of a problem with it from now on, except that she'll always have very sensitive skin and will need to be cautious about perfumes and other chemicals. He said it will be especially difficult when she's a teenager and wants to wear makeup. We'll have to be careful at that point not to irritate her skin even more. (Luckily that's a few years off...)

Oh, and her food allergies? We are still keeping her away from soy (Bill is VERY allergic so we've just kept her away from it completely) and she still has a sensitivity to nuts and now, again, milk. (She complains of a stomach ache whenever she has any dairy.)

So there you have it. Josie is improving in some areas, getting a little worse in others, but is overall a very healthy little girl.

About a month or so ago, when I was reading a bedtime story with Maddie, I asked her to read some of the book for me. It was one of the Rainbow Fairy series, which has regular-sized print. She looked at it and said, "Mommy, I can't see writing that small." She said the same thing again a few nights later. Hm.

At our last optometrist visit, I had both Maddie's and Josie's eyes checked. (Maddie had a little trouble reading the eye chart at her annual checkup at the pediatrician.) The doctor confirmed that Maddie would probably need glasses too, but not until next year. Her eyes weren't bad enough to warrant them right now. Well, considering what she had just told me, I figured it was time for another visit. Maybe she would have to wear them sooner than later.

Around the same time, I noticed that Josie was constantly taking her glasses off and leaving them around the house. She has worn them since she was a baby and since then has been very responsible with them, usually wearing them all the time, or putting them on a table when she takes them off. Lately, I have found them on the floor, under the bed, in a toy box... Each time I would ask her to put them back on, she would tell me, "Mommy I can see better without my glasses. I don't need them." I figured that she probably just needed the lenses to be cleaned (you wouldn't believe how insanely dirty they can get with smudges from sticky hands and such. I kept cleaning them off for her, but noticed more often than not that they were already clean. And yet, she would tell me every time that she could see better without them. Hm. Perhaps her prescription had changed. Time for another visit to the eye doctor.

So I made an appointment and took the girls in last week. I told the doctor about what had been happening with both of them. He checked Josie first (who was so brave, by the way, saying, "Okay, Maddie, now watch what I do so you won't be scared when it's your turn.") Less than a minute later, he looked at me and said they were completely fine. No changes. I asked what that meant. His reply, with a smile: "She's just being 4."

Next was Maddie. He asked her to read the eye chart on the other side of the room. At first, she stumbled. "O, no Q, no it's a B!" Then, he asked her to read a sentence from a card he gave her. She read the large print, then the medium print, and even the smallest print on the card, with pride. (She got a lot of satisfaction out of reading it for him.) Again, he looked at me and said that she's fine. No changes. Her eyes wouldn't have changed that much that fast, and he still thought she wouldn't need to be checked again until next year. I asked why she wouldn't have been able to read the writing. His reply, with another smile: "She's just being 5."

Oh good grief! I left there with a smile (and luckily a very small insurance copay.)

When we were in the car, I told Josie that her eyes were the same and asked her why she didn't want to wear her glasses. She got shy and said she didn't want to say it. I asked again and was able to get her to give me a reply:

"Because I look prettier without them."

Stab. In. My. Heart. I assured her she was absolutely beautiful both with and without them. In fact, just the previous day someone had been commenting about how much they liked her pink glasses. I was able to secretly mention this to a few friends over the next couple of days and they have all helped in making sure to comment and compliment her glasses (in a not-too-obvious way, of course.) Bill and I have also talked about having a little conversation with Cinderella when we see her at Disney World next weekend. We're having dinner with her for Josie's belated birthday. Perhaps Cinderella could mention them as well?

I hadn't thought about it, but Josie Is REALLY into the Princesses lately. Obviously none of them wear glasses. She has also become much more concerned with what she wears every day, and insists on picking out her own clothes (and wearing only dresses.) It made sense that she would notice that and it would affect her.

Yes, Miss Hannigan

Josie's reply yesterday when I asked her to pick up her toys. Can you tell the girls have been obsessed with the movie Annie lately?

FINALLY, the week of our makeover. This was the week where actual work was done to the rooms. We started on Tuesday, the 27th. We weren't needed at all on Wednesday or Thursday while more work was being done. We finished filming on Friday, the 30th, and the open house followed soon after. The kids and dogs stayed with my mom in Alabama for the week, as it would have been impossible for the crew to get any filming done while they were here. To say last week was a whirlwind would be an understatement. It's all a jumble now, but here's a breakdown of what happened each day of the makeover (if I can remember correctly.)

TUESDAY:

Tuesday morning Bill and I wore our "work" outfits and started filming scenes of us doing work with the crew. Bill filmed his first scenes with the carpenter, Chip. The two of them built a coffee table out of butcher block. It was a custom design by John, our designer. It was a chilly morning, but Bill and Chip worked in their short sleeves while the rest of the crew and I bundled in our coats behind the cameras. If you wonder why everyone has red noses in the outdoor scenes, now you'll understand why.

Bill and Chip work on the coffee table.

Next up were scenes of Bill putting our bedroom chair together with Chi-Lan. Then came scenes of Chi-Lan and I painting the bedroom. We painted it a light, greyish blue. A huge difference from the bright yellow. Of course, jokes were made on camera about the color and also the texture of the walls. I spent about 10 minutes actually painting one area of the wall. Afterwards, the real painting crew took over and had the rest of the room painted in about 30 minutes. They were pros.

Bill then filmed some scenes on our porch with Chi-Lan. He painted the ceiling while she painted the walls. Bill made note afterwards that his talents do not lie in the area of painting: both he and Chi-Lan ended up with paint on their arms and shoulders.

Bill and Chi-Lan painting the porch.

While the two of them kept busy on the porch, I worked with David, the contractor, on installing crown moulding in the bedroom. We filmed a couple of scenes of me on a ladder using a nailgun to install the moulding (awesome!) and also of the two of us outside cutting the pieces with the table saw (even more awesome!)

Mohawk Flooring employees arrived to install the new flooring in the den just as we all broke for lunch. Chip is the official spokesperson for Mohawk Flooring and they donated all the materials. Their guys came in and installed about half of it while we were eating. The color is a gorgeous dark brown. The rest of the floors in our house are a lighter pine color, but I almost wish we'd gone with the darker color. It looks great, though Bill pointed out that having that dark flooring throughout the house would have darkened every room in a house that already doesn't get that much natural light.

Flooring goes in.

After lunch, David and I filmed scenes of the two of us installing the flooring in the den. As I said, half of it had already been installed so we were only filmed laying down about two rows. We discussed how "easy" it was to install the laminate flooring and how you didn't even need nails or glue. It was easy, though to be honest, it was a square room with few corners. Bill had a much harder time of it when he laid flooring in our kitchen and living room and hallway. Corners and doorways everywhere!

At this point, we took a break for Bill and I to change back into the same clothes we'd worn on the first day a few weeks ago, when we filmed all the "before" shots. We went to downtown Smyrna Village to film some scenes with Chi-Lan about the area and housing prices. Then we sat down to "watch" video of the realtor walking through our house a few weeks ago and giving his first impressions. It was a really interesting experience. Up to this point, we'd been filming in a controlled environment in our house (well, despite the constant planes overhead from the local air reserve base.) At the village we had to deal with random people driving by and staring, as well as a car alarm that continued for at least 5 minutes, and a young man blaring music in his car and trying to make a 20-point turn to parallel park a few spaces down.

Waiting for the car alarm to turn off.

I have to point out that it had already been a really long day up to this point. Whereas I should have been tired, I was instead giddy and silly. I could not stop laughing and giggling at everything Bill or the host said. I kept telling myself to focus, but then I'd start laughing all over again. The whole scene where we "watch" our realtor's reactions didn't help much. We were supposed to sit at a little table and look at the screen of a little portable DVD player. It wasn't really playing anything, so the producer sat off-camera and read to us what the realtor had said. She'd read a line and then call out, "Okay, give me a shocked face." And we'd make faces as if we were completely shocked. That was fine, except that I could see my own reflection in the DVD player. I'd make one of the faces or give a reaction, and then I couldn't help but start laughing at what I saw. Of all of the different shots, this was the one that made me feel most like a complete dork. In addition, the producer kept telling me to speak up, that I was talking too softly. In her words I sounded like I was using my "whisper voice."

Once the shooting was done, we headed back to our house to film some final scenes to be used at the end of the show. Basically, we had to film two versions of the ending. The first one was expressing how excited we were that we'd just sold our house. The second one showed us saying that the open house had gotten a lot of interest and that we expect an offer any day now. Lest you think the entire show is a hoax, they do try to use the correct ending according to what has happened as they get ready to edit and air the show. Again, this was a mini disaster in that I couldn't keep up with my lines or I'd just look at Bill and let him speak when it came time to answer a question. Again, the producer kept saying, "Alecia, we need to hear your voice more too."

WEDNESDAY:

We weren't needed at all on Wednesday or Thursday. Wednesday was purely a work day and there would be no filming of anything. I took Bill to work and then spent the entire rest of the day just hanging out at the bookstore or running errands or just reading. I stopped home for a few minutes that evening to change clothes before picking up Bill and heading to dinner. I got there just as the work crew was finishing up and packing to go. What a change! The bookshelves had been built and lighting had been installed in the den and porch. The windows had been finished in the bedroom too. It was an odd feeling being gone all day and then coming home to a house completely changed.

Bookshelves are done.

Bedroom window treatment finished.

New porch paint and light.

THURSDAY:

We weren't needed today either, but they were doing some filming with John and Chi-Lan. Again, I spent the day outside the house just hanging out and running errands. Bill and I had dinner and then went shopping that evening. We didn't get back to the house until around 9pm, but WHOA. The rooms were completely done, staged and all, and ready for filming the next morning. One of the first things I noticed when I walked in the door was that our hallway console and mirror were missing. We later found them in our bedroom. The picture in our kitchen was moved to the den. It was interesting to see that they'd gone "shopping" in the rest of our house to find accessories and items for the makeover rooms that would be on camera the next morning. We were a little disappointed that the bedroom carpet remained, but we found out the next morning that there had been a lack of budget and time to replace it. We're hoping to replace it, along with the carpet in the other bedrooms, in the next couple of months.

Here are the finished rooms:

Den

Porch

Bedroom

FRIDAY:

Friday morning Bill and I were needed from 8am - 11pm to film the final scenes with John, where we walk through the finished rooms and see the changes. Shooting went pretty fast, and then we were ushered out for the open house to begin at 11am.

Designer John Gidding

Speaking of the open house, ours was staged. We had been asked to provide names of about 10 people who would be invited to come to the open house and pretend they were interested buyers. In the previous weeks, whenever we'd mention the house makeover, people would immediately ask if they could come to the open house, so we had a pretty good list of people to give the producer. Unfortunately, over half of them couldn't make it at the last minute so some of the people you see in the show are our actual family and friends, and some are crew members and their friends that were called in that morning.

Chi-Lan Lieu

My mom and sister came in from Alabama that morning, bringing the girls and dogs back with them. When the open house began, we traded cars and took the girls and dogs while my family went to the open house. After being without them all week, we couldn't wait to see the girls (okay, and dogs) again. Unfortunately, the crew would still be filming in our house until around 4 that afternoon, so we had to make sure the kids and dogs were kept out of the house until then. When we finally did come back home, it was really nice to just sit back and relax and enjoy our new rooms. The girls were elated and kept running from room to room squealing. Our relaxation was short-lived though, as we needed to clean and prepare for Josie's 4th birthday party the next day. (No, we're not crazy. It only made sense to have her party on Friday since my family was already in town, the house was already "fixed up" and because we had so many people asking to come and see it. Pardon the expression, but we killed quite a few birds at once with that party.)

Buy me.

And that, in a very big nutshell, was our Designed to Sell experience. It's been almost a week now and, other than the bedroom, we've yet to really move things around in the rooms. The dishes are still out on the porch table and the magazines are still on the coffee table in the den. It all just looks so nice that I hate to mess it up. If only I could get the rest of the house that way too.

The whole experience was so fun -- exhausting, but definitely fun. I learned so much about the behind-the-scenes of this show and reality-type shows in general. One thing Bill and I definitely have to note is just absolutely how nice the entire cast and crew were. They were so helpful and friendly and very patient with the two of us amateurs.

Designed to Sell cast and crew

Everyone wants to know when the show will air. The producer has said that they will contact us when they know an air date, but that it probably won't air until at least 8 months to a year from now. HGTV is premiering quite a few new shows this year and Designed to Sell episodes will be airing less frequently. In fact, the Designed to Sell franchise will be ending altogether. There are only two other houses being filmed after ours and then the show will be done. Our particular crew will be starting work on a new "day in the life" reality show featuring John and his design firm here in Atlanta.

The other thing people keep asking is whether we HAVE to sell our house, now that the makeover has been done. The answer is no, we are not required by the show to sell our house but we WANT to. We love Smyrna, and just hope to move to a different school district here. Basically, we need only move about a mile or two down the road and we'd be exactly where we want. We hope to move before Maddie starts 1st grade next year. It's a difficult real estate market right now, so keep your fingers crossed for us. We really hope this experience and the makeover will help us sell this spring/summer. We don't have the house on the market yet, as there are a few more things we want to get done ourselves (mainly, the bathrooms and carpeting) but we do plan on listing it in March and continuing those improvements in the meantime. Send good thoughts our way that it gets sold fast.

As reported by my mom, who watched the girls at her house all last week:

[after baths]

Nana: Josie, you need to finish drying off. You forgot your buttox.

Josie: Nana, my butt doesn't talk!